Updates from May 27, 2011

I see that liquid water AND greenery have both returned to your part of the world, Jason, and I bet you're glad to see them. Two things have returned here that I'm not really happy to see: mosquitos and tourists. Funny how they arrive at the same time! Those Culicid pupae must have little calendars - "OK, it's late May and the blood supply is coming soon - time to emerge!"

Jonathon

Got plenty of those here, too! It's amazing how the tourists stick to predictable locations in Alaska, though. On my drive back from this trip I passed probably 30 parked RVs, all of them clustered in about the three most obvious spots on the whole road. I think maybe they're so big & ugly that they're gravitationally attracted to one other, leaving delightful solitude for those of us who care to get off the beaten path.

It's surprising how much even a 10-minute walk will discourage some people. After finding tourists at my favorite bass pond back in the Marsh, I walked all of said distance to my other favorite bass pond where there was no one. Good thing because I popped a nice fat 15-inch largemouth on a "froggy popper" I had just finished painting & tying, whereas I haven't gotten any bass in the other pond lately...Of course, it may be that folks don't even know the other pond is there - it's not obvious at all on Google Earth, which is how one guy found the first pond.

Jonathon

P.S. It might be magnetism that draws those RVs together, Jason...no doubt increased by the satellite antennas and big-screen TVs they bring along with them.

True the world over. Everywhere I've lived/traveled I've found wonderful solitude, with accompanying wild life. From cracks in the concrete in urban 'scapes, hedgerows in eastern farmland,little tribs off known fishing waters, off trail excursions in the mountains, abandoned groves in China, to jungle 'scapes in SE Asia. It's almost always "just off the beaten path". Not only are such places richer, but they're yours, if only for the day.